


My birthday is not an excuse to set me up!

by hiya_emblem (hiya_girlie)



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Birthday Party, Dorothea being a good wingman, F/F, Female My Unit | Byleth, Fluff, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25157176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiya_girlie/pseuds/hiya_emblem
Summary: Edelgard’s 18th birthday is coming up, and although she wants to have a small party to celebrate, Dorothea insists on inviting everyone she knows, including a mysterious blue haired woman...
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 5
Kudos: 79





	My birthday is not an excuse to set me up!

“Edie, come on, it’s your 18th birthday!” Dorothea said, batting her eyes at Edelgard from across the cafe table. “It’s a big day!”

Edelgard stared at the contents of her coffee cup, watching steam rise off the surface. She’d just wanted to go out for coffee with Dorothea, maybe talk about how Dorothea’s classes were going, if she had any shows coming up that sounded interesting. Now that the conversation was turned back to her, she was looking for a way out. Talking about her plans for her upcoming birthday meant actually acknowledging that the future was fast approaching, and she still wasn’t prepared for what her life was going to become.

“I just don’t think inviting everyone in the world is a good idea,” Edelgard said defensively. “I don’t need a huge crowd to celebrate. Something more intimate would be better.”

The thought of having every friend, family member, and acquaintance gathered in a single space specifically to give their attention to her was not her ideal way of celebrating. She would prefer it to be a quiet affair with only her closest friends, like Dorothea, Hubert, and Bernadetta, so it would be less about her and more about having a good time. 

Dorothea gave her a flat look, one that clearly said that she didn’t think Edelgard knew how to party. Larger crowds might suit her, being a rising star among the local musical and theatrical scene, but she had a tendency to forget that not everyone basked in the spotlight like her.

“Well, like it or not,” she said, taking a sip of her latte, “I’m not cutting anyone off of the guest list. And,” she started, and Edelgard knew that the next words to come out would be her demise, “I’m also inviting a few people I met at school that I think you might like.” 

Edelgard opened her mouth to protest. Not only did Dorothea’s idea of “a few” vastly differ from her own, Dorothea’s school didn’t have a sparkling clean reputation. Anyone she knew could be anything. She didn’t want to show up at her own birthday party only to find that it had been overrun by druggies and frat boys.

Dorothea cut her off, raising her hand and giggling. “Oh don’t worry, no one too crazy, I remember what happened last year. Just a few friends from the drama department, you remember Ferdie, right? Oh, and Ingrid, of course, from forensics, you’ve met her before, yeah?”

Edelgard let out a pent up sigh. Ferdinand, as arrogant and loud as he was, wasn’t the worst person in the world to have at her birthday. Maybe he would even take the attention off of her long enough so she could actually enjoy it. And Ingrid, she’d met her once or twice before through Dorothea. She seemed like a safe bet.

“And a cute girl from my science class,” Dorothea said, eyes lighting up as she looked at Edelgard. “She’s just your type.”

Edelgard shook her head, rubbing her temple. As much as she loved Dorothea, her penchant for trying to act like a matchmaker was annoying. Every other girl she met was a potential date for Edelgard. “Dorothea, please don’t use my birthday as an excuse to set me up. I told you, I’m not interested in dating right now, I have to worry about college—“

Dorothea laid a hand on her arm and winked. “You might eat those words when you meet this girl, Edie,” she said. “And I mean it. Sadly she’s out of my league, made that very clear when she turned down my offer to get coffee, so I don’t have much of a chance with her, but you might.”

“Thank you for the concern over my romantic life,” Edelgard said pointedly, hoping Dorothea would take the hint and drop the topic, “but I think I’ll pass.”

Dorothea pouted, shaking her head like Edelgard had just turned down a winning lottery ticket. “Your loss. Anyway, back to the planning, I was thinking about renting out a place downtown, getting a DJ, catering, the works! We’re going all out!” 

Dorothea’s eyes sparkled as she continued going on about her plans for Edelgard’s party. Edelgard gave half hearted responses to Dorothea’s questions and offered her opinion when prompted, but otherwise zoned out. Despite insisting that her dating life was not a top priority, the girl Dorothea had mentioned sounded intriguing. Although, Edelgard thought with a sigh, the last girl Dorothea had set her up with had turned out to be altogether too fond of knives for Edelgard’s tastes, so maybe trusting Dorothea’s judgement wasn’t exactly the brightest idea.

Still, Edelgard couldn’t help but wonder who this girl was, and what about her it was that made Dorothea think they would be a good match.

——

“Can I take the blindfold off yet?” Edelgard asked, reaching up to scratch the cotton over her eyes. It was itching badly, and it didn’t help that it smelled pretty bad too. She didn’t know where Dorothea had found it, but likely it hadn’t been washed before being hastily tied on. Ew.

“Absolutely not!” Dorothea said. She sat behind the wheel of her small black car, occasionally drumming her manicured fingers on the edge of the wheel. “We’re not there yet.”

“It feels like we’ve been driving for hours,” Edelgard muttered. “This blindfold is killing me.”

Sitting beside Edelgard in the backseat of Dorothea’s car was Bernadetta, who let out a small squeak at her words. “Oh my gosh, Edelgard,” she started, her voice rising, and by the shuffling noises coming from her Edelgard assumed she was curling up into a little ball like she always did when she got nervous. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t even think to wash the blindfold beforehand, oh, I’m so stupid, darn it, Bernie, it probably smells terrible, and is itchy—”

Edelgard felt around beside her for Bernadetta and placed a hand on what she hoped was her arm. “It’s fine, really, Bernadetta,” she said. “I just don’t like surprises, that’s all. I would feel better about this whole thing if I knew where we were going.”

“Sorry,” Bernadetta said. Her voice was back to normal now. “But Dorothea insisted that we keep this a surprise.”

“It’s not as fun if you know where we’re going,” Dorothea added. “And besides, we’ll be there soon. Oh! Actually I can see it from here.”

“Thank goodness,” Edelgard breathed.

The car slowed as Dorothea made a turn, then came to a complete stop. Edelgard unbuckled her seatbelt and took the hand that was extended to her to help her out of the car. She was careful to duck her head to avoid bashing it on the ceiling.

Dorothea and Bernadetta led her down a sidewalk, keeping a firm grip on her arms and shoulders until they paused. A door squeaked open and they hauled her inside. Music played faintly in the distance, growing louder as they approached what she guessed was another set of doors. Their hands left her as they opened the doors and shoved her inside.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” A crowd screamed, exactly as Edelgard crossed the threshold into the room. So many voices mingled together that she didn’t recognize a single one, and her earlier anxiety came back. Just how many people had Dorothea invited?

The blindfold came undone and Edelgard could see again for the first time in half an hour. The room they were in was massive, the size of her high school gym. She blinked against the demanding neon lights and shimmering disco ball hanging from the ceiling. Colorful streamers in her favorite colors swam up and down the walls in twisting spirals, accented by bunches of balloons. Tables lined one wall, one covered with every type of cookie and cupcake known to man with a pitcher of punch at the end, and the other already stacked high with presents. Speakers stood in the corners and blasted a popular song from the radio that Edelgard knew all the words to.

It would have been exactly what she wanted for her birthday party if there hadn't been so many people.

Edelgard saw her family first, as they swarmed around her to crush her in hugs. She was surprised that so many of her older brothers and sisters had come, she assumed they would be busy with other things or wouldn’t have cared. Maybe Dorothea had bribed them, or threatened them. She’d done it before. Regardless, it felt nice to have them all here.

A handful of family friends were next to congratulate her. Hubert didn’t embrace her like the others did but merely nodded approvingly. Linhardt was dragged by Caspar to say hi to her, their parents chatting near the dessert table without giving Edelgard a second glance. Petra and her grandfather were here too, and they greeted Edelgard with smiles before apologizing for needing to leave early. 

There were also a lot of people Edelgard barely recognized. Ferdinand was trying to strike up a conversation with a white haired girl who Edelgard remembered seeing sometimes at school but didn’t know her name. Ingrid was with a group of boys Edelgard had never met before that looked almost like a boy band, and two girls were battling the boys for her attention. Another group of kids, whose ringleader looked to be a dark haired boy wearing a fluorescent yellow shirt, gathered next to one of the speakers, arguing about what song to play next. They looked around her age, possibly older. How did Dorothea know so many people?

Edelgard fought the urge to beeline straight for the dessert table and turned to find Dorothea by her side, sans Bernadetta, who had taken up residence behind the present table, trying her best to hide from the swarm of strangers.

“This is a lot more people than I expected,” Edelgard said, masking her nervousness. “When you said a few I thought you meant two or three.”

Dorothea laughed. “Oh come on, Edie, you think I’d throw a party and not invite my friends? I told you there was some people I wanted you to meet.”

“Dorothea, you’re my best friend,” Edelgard started, shaking her head, “but this looks like a college party!”

“Yeah, most of these kids I go to school with,” Dorothea said with a shrug. “You need to meet more people. And don’t be such a party pooper, at least they all brought presents.”

“I don’t need presents!”

Dorothea took her arm with a smile. “Well, you’ve got them now. Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone!”

Why did that sound so daunting?

——

Nearly an hour later, Edelgard finally had a break from introductions. As promised, Dorothea had dragged her around the room to meet every unfamiliar face until her head was swimming with names, so many names. It felt like the first day of school. 

A lot of the kids she was introduced to seemed fine enough, luckily. Annette and Mercedes were sweet, going on about how they were more than happy to help Dorothea with the catering since she’d helped them through history. Dimitri, Dedue, and Ashe wished her a happy birthday and asked her about her plans for college. Sylvain only hit on her once, which Edelgard was told was a world record, and though Felix kept giving her suspicious looks he didn’t say anything outright rude.

The kids who’d been fighting over the music were a bit crazier, though, and Edelgard had only spent a few minutes with them before she had to leave. Claude, the kid with the yellow shirt, complained about how if Dorothea had let him set up a fog machine the party would be livelier, while Hilda let out a very loud sigh and moaned about how much work hauling around a fog machine was, which implied that she did it more than the average person. Leonie and Raphael were too busy eating themselves sick to spare more than a quick introduction, although Lorenz was more than happy to take up the rest of her time. Ignatz and Marianne seemed nervous around her and barely said “Hello” before going back to their friends.

Now Edelgard had a moment to breathe and finally got a good look at the dessert table. She picked up a sprinkle cookie and started to eat when Dorothea appeared by her side.

“Ooh, Edie,” Dorothea said, grabbing Edelgard’s arm with unexpected strength. She motioned to the event room’s door, grinning. “There’s cute science girl I told you about.”

Edelgard’s eyes followed Dorothea’s hand to the door and watched as a blue haired woman walked into the room, a green wrapped present in her hands. Edelgard kept her mouth firmly closed to avoid gawking at her. In a black crop top that didn’t hide much of her chest and patterned leggings that showed off legs that were well muscled, the blue haired woman was the definition of eye candy. Edelgard nearly choked on her cookie

“Isn’t she just a goddess?” Dorothea swooned, fanning her face with her freehand. “And she even brought you a present, how sweet.” She gave Edelgard a light nudge. “Go talk to her!”

Edelgard froze. “Are you insane? I don’t even know her!”

Dorothea rolled her eyes and took her arm, leading her across the room to the blue haired woman. Edelgard tried to resist, planting her feet firmly in the ground, but Dorothea’s determination to get her a date, mixed with the muscle that came from working as a stagehand, pulled her along like she was a leaf and Dorothea was a river current. They beelined across the room, brushing shoulders with partygoers absorbed in conversation, and wound up at the gift table, where the blue haired woman was trying to balance her gift on top of the already massive pile of presents.

“Byleth!” Dorothea called, catching the woman’s attention. “I’m glad you could make it!”

The blue haired woman, Byleth, gave a barely perceptible smile, glancing between Dorothea and Edelgard. Her face was impassive, but Edelgard couldn’t help staring. “Thanks for inviting me,” she said simply. 

Edelgard could barely hold back her blush when Byleth made eye contact with her, Byleth’s blue eyes boring into her. She wasn’t one for “love at first sight”, but could definitely make an exception for Byleth.

“This is Edie, the birthday girl and my best friend,” Dorothea said, gesturing to Edelgard. 

“Nice to meet you,” Byleth said. She smiled again, this time wide enough that it crinkled the skin around the corners of her eyes. “Happy birthday.”

Edelgard worried she was staring, so she quickly cleared her throat and plastered on a smile. “Thank you for coming,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

Byleth shrugged. Her casual demeanor was a stark contrast to the nervousness Edelgard was feeling. “It’s no big deal, I happened to have some free time today, and Dorothea promised free food. Besides,” she added, “I’ve always wanted to meet Dorothea’s best friend. She talks about you a lot.”

Edelgard looked helplessly at Dorothea, who winked very obviously back at her. She wanted to run and hide. “Only good things, I hope,” she said. She was going to have some words with Dorothea after this was all over. A crowd full of strangers who’d never heard her name until Dorothea introduced her was fine and dandy, but a stranger that Dorothea apparently gushed about her to was an entirely different matter.

“She said you were smart and focused on achieving your goals,” Byleth said, seemingly oblivious to the momentary exchange between Edelgard and Dorothea. “That’s something I can respect.”

“Oh,” was all Edelgard could manage. Such high praise! She found herself at a loss for words. A few seconds passed in awkward silence as she figured out what else to say. “Er, thank you.”

Byleth nodded. “Anyway, it was great to meet you,” she said, giving her a quick wave. She turned and walked away to the dessert table, bumping into Claude, who quickly pulled her into his conversation with Leonie.

Edelgard nearly fainted, spinning to face Dorothea, who was grinning delightedly like a kid on Christmas.

“Still uninterested in dating, Edie?” Dorothea asked devilishly. “I told you, she’s just your type.”

“Maybe she is,” Edelgard said. She forced her face to return to impassiveness before Dorothea could tease her about her bright red blush. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Well, if you ever want her number,” Dorothea said, winking, “I can get it for you.”

Edelgard gave Byleth, playfully arguing with Claude, one last glance before turning back to the rest of the party. “Duly noted.”

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing Edeleth, just wanted to mix it up bc I usually write rarepairs, I think it went alright.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
